Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene - Research and Applications

A polyoxometallate (POM)-assisted method has been successfully developed to load well-dispersed Pt nanoparticles on CNTs. Polyoxometallate offers strong protection to Pt nanoparticles from aggregation due to the electrostatic repulsive interactions with the negatively charged PMo12 monolayer. At the same time, polyoxometallate may work as a “bridge”, facilitating the attachment of Pt nanoparticles on the surface of CNTs. Electrochemical testing results indicate that the presence of PMo12 can not only diminish the poisoning of Pt catalysts, but also enhances the electrocatalytic activity and long-term cycling stability of the catalyst. POM assisted synthesis appears to be a promising method to prepare well-dispersed Pt nanoparticles on CNTs.

Source: Electrochimica Acta (2008), article in press.